Khan, Omar, Richard Derman, and Nancy Sloan. “Advancing Maternal Survival in the Global Context: Are Our Strategies Working?” BMC Public Health 13 (2013): 689. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-689.

URL: www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/13/689

ABSTRACT:

There have been significant gains in improving maternal mortality over the last two decades. Researchers have suggested a variety of interventions and mechanisms to explain these improvements. While it is likely that much of what has been done in research and programs has contributed to this decline, the evidence regarding what works in the settings in which women deliver continues to face many challenges. We review the evidence for these improvements and suggest that there remain areas to focus on, particularly the births which currently take place in an unsupervised or substandard environments. We highlight the main areas where more evidence is needed, and end with a call to determine which of our interventions seem to have the most benefit; which do not; and where to invest future resources.

Khan, et al briefly review advances in maternal survival, particularly in the developing world.  The authors highlight the need for rigorous research into the effectiveness of various interventions and the importance of assessing their effect on maternal mortality as directly as possible through household and mobile device reporting.  As the authors mention, millions of dollars are currently being spent on interventions that have not been critically evaluated.  Understanding which interventions are most effective will help efficiently target scarce resources.